“I would have to take him everywhere I went,” Malcolm Floyd said. “I had to change his diapers. If we were playing basketball, he’d just hold us down. We had to make up for his lack of ability.

“By the time I got into the NFL, (he) was barely reaching high school. I came back for a couple days and we were playing basketball and he was dunking on me. I guess things had changed.”

Despite his comparatively diminutive stature, the 6-foot Malcolm Floyd was the Oilers’ third-round draft choice in 1994. He caught 26 career passes for the Oilers, Tennessee Titans and St. Louis Rams, professional experience that helped qualify him for his current job: head football coach at Sacramento’s C.K. McClatchy High School, his alma mater.

Command has made Malcolm Floyd self-conscious about the “stupid celebrations” of his former self, and mindful of his own hypocrisy when he tells players to “try to be a little more professional.” Yet his example was not lost on his younger brother, if only as a path to avoid.

“I might start yelling (after a reception), but I just didn’t want to be looked at as That Guy; like flamboyant,” Malcom Floyd said. “That’s not me. You can pick and choose what you want to incorporate in your character, and that’s just something I didn’t want.”

His behavior model was Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, whose talents were conspicuous but whose swagger was imperceptible. Both men were born lucky, and grew up gracefully.

“If it happened all the time, then I wouldn’t be lucky,” Malcom Floyd said. “It would be great skill. But it doesn’t always happen, like in blackjack, and stuff like that is hard: one-handed catches, diving catches. I don’t make those catches all the time.”

Some of this is humility speaking. Some of it, though, may be sandbagging.

“I think I’m confident in myself,” Floyd said. “I’m above average. I know what I can bring to the table.”

He was sufficiently confident to hold out last season before signing a one-year tender worth $3,168,000. Though injuries limited him to 11 games and 37 receptions in 2010, Floyd’s 19.4-yard average ranked fourth-best in the NFL.

Following some free-agent flirtations, notably with the Baltimore Ravens, Floyd returned to the Chargers this month with a two-year contract reportedly worth $5 million. Though that represents a slightly reduced salary on an annual basis, Floyd should have no trouble making the payments on an Audi Q7. (The 2012 model Audi Escondido has in stock carries a sticker price of $61,475.)

“We talked about it a couple of months ago,” Malcolm Floyd said. “He wanted to get it used and I said, ‘Come on, man. Get a brand-new SUV if you want.’ ”